Examine if people with disabilities can be under different categories in civil services: Supreme Court

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Centre to examine the possibility of putting people with disabilities under different categories in civil services.

Attorney General R. Venkataramani, representing the Centre, contended that the government was looking into the matter and sought time from a bench comprising Justices S.A. Nazeer and V. Ramasubramanian.

In March this year, the Supreme Court allowed physically challenged candidates who have cleared the civil services exam to provisionally opt for the Indian Police Service, the Railway Protection Force, and the Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Police Service (Danips). The court asked them to submit their application forms by April 1 to the UPSC.

During the hearing, one of the judges on the bench shared an incident where a 100 percent blind person in Chennai was appointed as a civil judge junior division and interpreters at the court got all kinds of orders signed by him. The bench added that he was later appointed as a Tamil journal editor and pointed out that one aspect is the sympathy for the disabled people, but the other aspect is the practicality of the decision.

"Sympathy is one aspect, practicality is another aspect," it said.

The top court asked the AG to examine the matter and added, "they may not fit into all categories....".

After hearing arguments, the bench scheduled the matter for further hearing after eight weeks.

The top court was hearing a plea by the National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled' challenging the Centre's August 18, 2021 notification that denied them entry into the country's elite police forces.